1. Field of Invention
The invention concerns maintaining suitable environmental conditions within a marking device.
2. Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,339 to DeCock et al. discloses an air conditioner device for an electrostatographic printer using environmental control. An air conditioning device is provided that has filters for removing dust and ozone from air leaving the environment of the image-producing station. DeCock et al. also provide a heat exchanger and a humidifier for adjusting the temperature and humidity of air leaving the environment of the image producing station, and an inlet manifold for introducing a stream of conditioned air into the environment of the image producing station. In one embodiment, the development station has an additional channel serving as an inlet for introducing a low speed stream of separately conditioned air to achieve an appropriate micro-climate, in which the temperature and relative humidity are different from the air-conditioned environment in the printer cabinet to obtain optimum development results. This embodiment is operated with a common air inlet provided at the top of the marking cabinet.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,634,176 to Ayash et al. discloses an electrophotographic marking machine which has an air manifold system which supplies air flow to a plurality of machine components and which supports a component of the plurality of machine components.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,689,766 to Hollar et al. discloses an apparatus for maintaining a desired ambient condition about an electrophotographic marking module. An air flow source supplies air to an electrophotographic module chamber and sensors respond to the amount of air flow to control the air flowing from the air source.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,305 to Suzumura et al. discloses a liquid developing type of electrophotographic printer having a circulation means to take out and return gas generated in the printer casing, a gas cooling and solvent recovery means provided midway on the recirculation means to lower the gas concentration, means to detect the temperature and humidity of the gas in the casing, and a gas heating means downstream of the gas cooling and solvent recovery means to adjust the humidity of gas to be returned to the casing.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,621,554 to Ayash et al. discloses a method and apparatus to control the atmosphere in a xerographic control module of an image forming device so that the dew point is not reached. Parameters controlled within a xerographic chamber include air pressure, temperature and humidity. Both open and closed loop recirculation systems are disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,033 to Ayash et al. discloses an ambient atmospheric pressure compensation controller for a pressurized copying device.